Kmart has fallen victim to another data breach, according to parent company Sears Holdings Corporation on Wednesday. The chain's payment system was infiltrated by malware, but it's unclear how many of its 735 locations were affected or how long its network was compromised.

Related Content

The Illinois-based retailer said that no customers' names, addresses, birth dates, email addresses, social security numbers and credit card PIN numbers were compromised.

"Our investigation...indicates our Kmart store payment data systems were infected with a form of malicious code that was undetectable by current anti-virus systems," the store said. "We believe certain credit card numbers have been compromised. All Kmart stores were EMV 'Chip and Pin' technology-enabled during the time that the breach occurred, and we believe the exposure to cardholder data that can be used to create counterfeit cards is limited."

Kmart says that online shoppers and Sears customers weren't affected by the incident.

"Kmart is continuing to work closely with federal law enforcement authorities, our banking partners, and IT security firms in an ongoing investigation," the company said. "We are also actively enhancing our defenses in light of this new form of malware."

The announcement comes days after Chipotle revealed that malware invaded its point-of-sale systems at hundreds of its restaurants, reportedly compromising thousands of consumers' credit card information. Last month, Target Corp. reached an $18.5 million settlement after a 2013 data breach that impacted more than 41 million payment card accounts and exposed the contact information of more than 60 million customers.

Cybercrime is now a global phenomenon. A report from Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that overall financial losses from online crime will reach more than $6 trillion annually in three years. In 2015, it was just $3 trillion.

Last year, 34 percent of US-based companies experienced some type of online security breach, according to a report from Bitdefender. Even more alarming - two-thirds of companies surveyed said they would pay an average of $124,000 to keep the hack private, leaving unsuspecting customers in the dark.